NBC orders Katherine Heigl series

By Breeanna Hare, CNN

Updated 1247 GMT (1947 HKT) May 8, 2014

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – Rachel McAdams is most famous for her big-screen works, but she's no stranger to television. From 2003 to 2005, while also starring in hits like "Mean Girls," "The Notebook" and "Wedding Crashers," McAdams played Kate McNab on the comedy "Slings and Arrows." Now, the actress is one of the newest stars to join HBO's "True Detective." McAdams isn't the only one adding a new TV project to her resume:

Hide Caption

1 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – Colin Farrell, right, and Vince Vaughn were recently announced as the leads for the second season of "True Detective."

Hide Caption

2 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – Will Smith is making his way back to TV ... in a way. The actor, who's long since swapped the small screen for major movie blockbusters, is now set to executive produce a series based on his 2005 movie "Hitch."

Hide Caption

3 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – Scarlett Johansson is reportedly joining other fellow movie stars on the small screen. The actress has signed up for a limited TV series based on the Edith Wharton novel, "The Custom of the Country."

Big stars, small screen – Oscar winner Halle Berry stars in "Extant," a space drama from Steven Spielberg's production company that premiered in July on CBS.

Hide Caption

6 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – Katherine Heigl is returning to television this fall after spending four years working in film. The former "Grey's Anatomy" actress will star in NBC's new CIA/White House drama, "State of Affairs."

Hide Caption

7 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – Terrence Howard has done his fair share of TV work, but he's best known for his big-screen appearances in movies such as "Crash," "Hustle & Flow" and "Iron Man." But soon he and filmmaker Lee Daniels are coming to TV with a Fox drama called "Empire."

Hide Caption

8 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – Viola Davis has collected acclaim and two Oscar nods with her film career, but the actress is now starring in a Shonda Rhimes-produced drama on ABC. Called "How to Get Away With Murder" and described as a "sexy legal thriller," Davis plays a criminal defense attorney and professor.

Hide Caption

9 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – Jamie Lee Curtis has signed up to star in a soapy CBS drama pilot. In the project, Curtis will portray a doctor and the mother of quadruplets, all of whom grew up as the subjects of a reality show. If all goes well, this would be Curtis' first regular TV role since 1989's "Anything But Love."

Hide Caption

10 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – After returning to "American Idol" for its 13th season, Jennifer Lopez has apparently caught the TV bug. The actress is set to produce and star in a new NBC police drama called "Shades of Blue." She will play a detective who goes undercover in the FBI's anti-corruption task force. NBC has already picked up 13 episodes.

Hide Caption

11 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – Susan Sarandon, seen here with her actress daughter, Eva Amurri, is known for films such as "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," "Thelma & Louise" and "Bull Durham." But as of October 2013, Sarandon has agreed to star with Amurri in a new NBC sitcom.

Hide Caption

12 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – Meg Ryan has spent the past 10 years sporadically appearing in movies. Now the actress is planning to make her grand return on TV, not at the box office. She has signed on to produce and star in an NBC comedy about a single mom who decides to return to work at a New York City publishing house.

Hide Caption

13 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – Anna Faris, right, was becoming a comedy queen almost solely on the big screen, thanks to parts in "The Hot Chick," "The House Bunny" and "Just Friends." But Faris switched it up last fall with "Mom," a comedy on CBS that stars the actress as a single mother and recovering alcoholic trying to put her life back together.

Hide Caption

14 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – Don Cheadle's acting career is pretty legendary thanks to film credits like "Hotel Rwanda" and "Crash." But in 2012, Cheadle reminded anyone who'd forgotten just how funny he could be -- and how well he could lead a TV series -- with Showtime's "House of Lies."

Hide Caption

15 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – "Sleepy Hollow" was one of the fall 2013 TV season's earliest hits, and it stars two actors known more for movies. British actor Tom Mison is known for flicks like "One Day" and "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen," while Nicole Beharie has shined in the films "Shame," "The Last Fall" and "42."

Hide Caption

16 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – There was a time when you could only see Kevin Bacon on your TV screen if one of the cable channels was airing "Footloose." But in 2013, Bacon followed in the footsteps of his wife, Kyra Sedgwick, and made TV appearances a weekly thing with Fox's "The Following."

Hide Caption

17 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – Kevin Spacey is a man notably devoted to theater, but the TV format has even ensnared the "American Beauty" actor. It's true that "House of Cards" doesn't *quite* count as TV -- it's original programming from Netflix that can be watched like a really, really long movie rather than in episodes -- but it was also nominated for a bunch of Emmys.

Hide Caption

18 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – You might have seen Vera Farmiga on TV early in her career, but most came to know the actress when she transitioned to films such as "The Departed" and "Up in the Air." In 2013, Farmiga took a classic movie role and stretched it out to fill a TV series with A&E's "Bates Motel."

Hide Caption

19 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – Prior to her barrier-breaking and Emmy-nominated role in "Scandal," Kerry Washington was better known for her film work. But in 2012, she became the first African-American actress to lead a prime-time network drama in almost 40 years.

Hide Caption

20 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – Kat Dennings' first credited role was on TV ("Sex and the City," to be exact), but by the mid-2000s she was recognized from movies like "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist." In 2011, Dennings hit paydirt on TV with CBS' "2 Broke Girls."

Hide Caption

21 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – Ashton Kutcher, too, was a TV star who at one point tried to break out into movies -- what used to be the typical sign of "making it" in Hollywood. While Kutcher, center, still works in movies like many others on this list, it was telling when he decided to return to TV for another comedy, replacing Charlie Sheen on "Two and a Half Men" in 2011.

Hide Caption

22 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – Although Claire Danes' early TV work on "My So-Called Life" is seminal to her career, her prestigious reputation was built with films such as "Romeo + Juliet," "The Hours" and "Shopgirl." So by the time she came full circle in 2011 and returned to TV with Showtime's "Homeland," it seemed like a big star had come home to roost.

Hide Caption

23 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – These days, Zooey Deschanel is easily recognizable as the quirky teacher Jess Day on Fox's hit sitcom "New Girl." But before that, she was better known for her film work in "(500) Days of Summer," "Almost Famous" and "Elf."

Hide Caption

24 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – Showtime's "Masters of Sex" has lured film star Michael Sheen to TV. Prior to 2013's freshman hit, Sheen was best known for work in movies such as "Underworld," "Frost/Nixon" and "Midnight in Paris." His co-star, Lizzy Caplan, has played across both mediums, starring in cult TV favorites like "Freaks and Geeks" and "Party Down" as well as big-screen blockbusters like "Mean Girls."

Hide Caption

25 of 26

Big stars, small screen26 photos

Big stars, small screen – We think there's little James Spader can't do, and his recent resume is proof. In addition to playing a mysterious criminal on NBC's "The Blacklist," Spader, right, has also signed up to appear as Ultron in Joss Whedon's "Avengers" sequel.

Hide Caption

26 of 26

Story highlights

Katherine Heigl returns to TV with a new NBC drama

The actress will play a CIA analyst advising the president on high-level global affairs

This is Heigl's first regular TV role since she left "Grey's Anatomy" in 2010

The series is just one of three politically themed new shows

NBC has made Katherine Heigl's return to TV official.

The 35-year-old actress will star in the network's newly announced series "State of Affairs," about a CIA analyst (Heigl) who advises the president on high-risk global affairs while also balancing her own complicated personal life.

Alfre Woodard plays the president, whose son was engaged to Heigl's character, Charleston "Charlie" Tucker, prior to being killed in a terrorist attack.

This will be Heigl's first regular prime-time role since she left Shonda Rhimes' "Grey's Anatomy" in 2010. In the years since, Heigl has been working primarily on the big screen, with her most recent release being January's animated title "The Nut Job."

Heigl will also executive produce "State of Affairs" along with her mom, Nancy Heigl, and writer/director Joe Carnahan, among others.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Heigl's series is just one of three politically themed shows coming to NBC. Along with "State of Affairs," the network has placed series orders for a drama called "Allegiance," about a CIA analyst who learns his parents are deactivated Russian spies, and another drama called "Odyssey," about an international conspiracy that affects a lawyer, a political activist and a female soldier.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that Eichner and Klausner, who co-created the "Difficult People" concept, will star as a pair of NYC best friends who hate everyone except themselves. Klausner is writing the script, and Poehler will executive produce.